Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (CRDT) proudly presents the inaugural Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival on Saturday, Oct. 11 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N Dearborn St, Chicago. This evening of dance and community is a platform to gather in solidarity and celebrate contemporary Latinx/e artistry. The evening begins with a Latinx/e Community Hour at 6:30 p.m., co-hosted by Wilfredo Rivera (CRDT Co-founder and Artistic Director) and Brennen Renteria (CRDT Rehearsal Director & Dance Ensemble) followed by the performance, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. Tickets are priced at $32 – $72, and if these prices are not accessible, community members are encouraged to reach out at info@cerquarivera.org or 872-228-1090 for support. For tickets and more information, visit www.cerquarivera.org.
The festival features artists Anniela Huidobro, Alfonso Abraham Cervera y Irvin Manuel Gonzalez, Lilia Castillo Gomez, Mark Travis Rivera, Paula Sousa, Ruben Andrés Castillo Gomez, and Sandy Perez alongside Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre. Performances will highlight contemporary and experimental forms of dance, movement, and storytelling.
Through this new festival, CRDT uplifts a multiplicity of Latinx/e perspectives—a mosaic of stories shaped by heritage, migration, gender, queerness, resilience, and joy. The Festival highlights socially conscious emerging Latinx artists’ lines of inquiry addressing immigration, colonialism, multinationalism, bi-racial and/or multi-generational identities.
“More than a performance, this is a gathering — a celebration of Chicago’s Latinx/e dance artistry and a community-driven event, a much-needed space where artists and audiences come together to witness, reflect, and celebrate our identities in motion,” says CRDT Co-founder and Artistic Director Wilfredo Rivera.
The inaugural Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival is generously sponsored by Alec Dike & Siobhan Flynn and made possible, in part, through the Ruth Page Center Subsidized Theater & Studio Rental Program
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Anniela Huidobro is a Mexican dance artist. She is a 2025 finalist in the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artists Program and was selected as a Chicago Performance Lab Artist by the University of Chicago. With over a decade of experience, Huidobro has performed across Latin America—including Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Panama, and Colombia—as well as throughout Mexico. In the United States, her work has been presented at the Newport Dance Festival (2023, 2025), RADFest (2025), among others.
Brennen Renteria (CRDT Rehearsal Director & Dance Ensemble) received his BA in dance at CSU, Fullerton in 2014 under the mentorship of Gladys Kares and Debra Noble, performing works by Louis Kavouras and Colin Connor. In 2014 he joined Thodos Dance Chicago, working with Brian Enos, Lucas Crandall, Garfield Lemonius, Brian McGinnis, Kevin Iega Jeff, Melissa Thodos, and Ann Reinking. In 2017 Renteria began dancing with Elements Contemporary Ballet and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, where he has since assumed the position of rehearsal director.
Irvin Manuel Gonzalez and Alfonso Cervera have been duetting in life and on dancefloors since 2010. Mexican American makers, dancers, and professors at The Ohio State University, their work is rooted in rasquachismo, a Chicanx method that reimagines use-value of materials. They explore queerness, Latinidad, and ecology through dance, intimacy, and storytelling, and have shared work nationally as co-directors of Show Box L.A. and founders of Primera Generación Dance.
Lilia Castillo Gómez is a movement artist specializing in contemporary dance. Castillo Gómez is originally from Tampa, FL. She received her BFA in Dance Performance from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Castillo Gómez has performed works by Ana Maria Lucaciu, Doug Varone, Shannon Alvis, Stephanie Martinez, Tamisha Guy, Trisha Brown, etc. She is currently in her second season with Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre. She is overjoyed to be presenting a portion of her newest work at the Chicago Latine/x Contemporary Movement Festival.
Mark Travis Rivera, the CEO of The Professional Storyteller, embraces the power of stories to create an inclusive world. At 17, Rivera formed marked dance project, becoming the youngest in the U.S to lead a physically integrated dance company for disabled & non-disabled folks. As a Puerto Rican, he was also one of just a few leaders of color. Rivera was invited to Ballet Hispanico’s Instituto Coreográfico program, becoming the first physically disabled choreographer to do so.
Paula Sousa (she/her) is a Brazilian movement artist based in Chicago. Her work explores movement as a vehicle for connection—blending physicality, emotion, and visual storytelling to expand how audiences and performers engage with dance. She holds degrees from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in Austria, the Bolshoi School in Brazil, and a degree in Public Policy from UNESA. Sousa has performed and created work across Europe, South America, and the USA.
Ruben Andrés Castillo Gomez is originally from Mexico City, but in 2014 came to the United States on scholarship for the Idyllwild Arts Academy high school to major in dance. After graduation, he was accepted on scholarship to attend the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Ruben Andrés Castillo Gomez had the pleasure to premiere his first work at Future Dance Festival in 92NY titled “Los Immigrantes.”
Sandy Perez is a movement artist from Nashville, TN. Sandy focuses on telling the stories of her communities through the themes of her work and choices of expression. In Tennessee, she worked with DancEast Collective, Found Movement Group, and Southern Black Arts and has presented work at Kindling Arts Festival, through Animata Arts, and in Oz Arts’ Brave New Works Lab with Arelys Hernandez. In Chicago, she has had the privilege of working under Chih-Jou Cheng, Dani Oblitas, 773 Dance Project and Freedom From Freedom To.
ABOUT CERQUA RIVERA DANCE THEATRE
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre was born to explore and celebrate the American identity. These artists are fearless storytellers who help people understand and engage with themselves and the world around them. Each piece the company makes centers around a specific experience and they use research and radical collaboration to convey that narrative through a diverse group of artists. Cerqua Rivera engages with its community through local and national touring, workshops, interactive previews of work in progress, and full concerts. See Chicago Dance says the company “possesses a blended magic that is difficult to come by” and “creates a deeper sense of commitment and intimacy.” New City Stage raves that Cerqua Rivera "speaks straight to the heart, feeding a hunger [you] may not even realize.”
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre is grateful to all the donors who make its art and 2025-2026 Season possible, including these organizations:
The Lester & Hope Abelson Fund for the Performing Arts at The Chicago Community Foundation; The Arts Work Fund; Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; The Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund (a Donor Advised Fund at the DeKalb County Community Foundation); Anne E. Leibowitz Fund; Richard G. & Diane Weinberg Foundation; Chicago Park District and Chicago Cultural Treasures
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
This project is partially supported by a grant from the Evanston Arts Council, a city agency supported by the City of Evanston, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal Agency.
Night Out in the Parks is a program of the Chicago Park District.